Award-Winning Journalist Keith Olbermann Joins MLBAM

April 22, 2009

NEW YORK, April 22 /PRNewswire/ — MLB Advanced Media, the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, announced today that it has hired award-winning anchor, sportscaster and journalist
Keith Olbermann as an at-large columnist. Olbermann’s columns, currently available three times per week at keitholbermann.mlblogs.com, will provide fans with his “Baseball Nerd” perspective of the game across various platforms. He also is the first national journalist hired as part of MLBAM’s digital newspaper initiative, currently scheduled for a May launch.

At his request, Olbermann’s full salary for his work as an at-large columnist will be split equally among three charitable organizations. They will be: the Baseball Assistance Team, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and the Jayden Braden/Ariana Marzano College Fund, established in support of the late John Marzano’s grandchildren. Marzano, a former Major Leaguer and MLB.com host, died just over one year ago in a home accident in Philadelphia.

“I’ve long respected MLB.com’s editorial independence and I’ll be delighted to test it,” said Olbermann. “Seriously, it’s an honor to be able to write about all the obscure things I love inside the game I love, and to help some worthy causes in the process, and to honor an old friend. Not to mention that it will be my politics-free oasis. Unless another cat jumps up at another Governor.”

“We are delighted by Keith’s actions in every aspect of this endeavor, from his wonderful writing to what he is giving to honor the legacy and family of John Marzano,” said
Dinn Mann, Executive Vice President, Content, MLBAM. “Keith is not just a student of the game, he is an unmistakable personality who combines punch line instincts with journalistic drive. This is an exciting step in the landscape of sports commentary and MLBAM.”

Olbermann is currently the host of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” an hour-long nightly news and commentary television program on MSNBC. Starting with the 2007 NFL season, Olbermann also has served as a co-host of NBC’s Football Night in America. He spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism as a sports correspondent for CNN in the 1980s, winning the Best Sportscaster award from the California Associated Press three times. Olbermann later co-hosted ESPN’s SportsCenter from 1992 to 1997. After leaving ESPN, Olbermann became a sports anchor and producer for Fox Sports Net from 1998 to 2001, during which he hosted several World Series broadcasts.